# South Africa at the 1952 Summer Olympics

The Union of South Africa competed at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. 64 competitors, 60 men and 4 women, took part in 59 events in 13 sports.

## Medalists
### Gold

* Esther Brand — Athletics, Women's High Jump
* Joan Harrison — Swimming, Women's 100m Backstroke

### Silver

* Daphne Hasenjager — Athletics, Women's 100 metres
* Theunis van Schalkwyk — Boxing, Men's Light Middleweight
* George Estman, Robert Fowler, Thomas Shardelow, and Alfred Swift — Cycling, Men's 4.000m Team Pursuit
* Raymond Robinson and Thomas Shardelow — Cycling, Men's 2.000m Tandem

### Bronze

* Willie Toweel — Boxing, Men's Flyweight
* Leonard Leisching — Boxing, Men's Featherweight
* Andries Nieman — Boxing, Men's Heavyweight
* Raymond Robinson — Cycling, Men's 1.000m Time Trial

## Athletics

South Africa was represented in athletics by 10 men and 4 women.
Men:
* 100 metres - Neville Price (did not compete)
* 200 metres - Schalk Booysen (4th place in Heat 3); Neville Price (did not compete)
* 400 metres - Louis van Biljon (4th place in Quarterfinal 3); Schalk Booysen (4th place in Heat 12); John Anderton (5th place in Heat 2)
* 1500 metres - Athol Jennings (6th place in Heat 3)
* 10,000 metres - Bill Keith (28th place); Syd Luyt (did not compete)
* Marathon - Wally Hayward (10th place); Syd Luyt (11th place); Bill Keith (19th place)
* 400 metres hurdles - Ron Wilke (5th place in Quarterfinal 3)
* 4 × 400 metres relay - 4th place in Heat 3
    Louis van Biljon, Ron Wilke, John Anderton, Bill Chivell; Schalk Booysen (DNS)
* Long jump - Neville Price (11th place)
* Triple jump - Neville Price (did not compete)
Women:
* 100 metres - Daphne Hasenjäger (2nd place) Silver Medal
    Edna Maskell (5th place in Quarterfinal 4)
* 200 metres - Daphne Hasenjäger (6th place)
* 80 metres hurdles - Edna Maskell (5th place in Semifinal 1)
* High jump - Esther Brand (1st place) Gold Medal
* Shot put - Esther Brand (did not compete)
* Discus throw - Esther Brand (20th place in qualifying round)

## Boxing

South Africa was represented in boxing by 8 men.
* Flyweight - Willie Toweel (=3rd place) Bronze Medal
* Bantamweight - Lennie von Graevenitz (=5th place)
* Featherweight - Len Leisching (=3rd place) Bronze Medal
* Lightweight - Johnny van Rensburg (=17th place)
* Light welterweight - Grant Webster (=5th place)
* Welterweight - Hendrik van der Linde (=9th place)
* Light middleweight - Theunis van Schalkwyk (2nd place) Silver Medal
* Heavyweight - Dries Niemann (=3rd place) Bronze Medal

## Cycling

South Africa was represented in cycling by 5 men.

### Road Competition

Men's Individual Road Race (190.4 km)
* George Estman — did not finish (→ no ranking)
* Alfred Swift — did not finish (→ no ranking)
* Robert Fowler — did not finish (→ no ranking)

### Track Competition

Men's 1.000m Time Trial
* Raymond Robinson
   * Final — 1:13.0 (→ Bronze Medal)
Men's 1.000m Sprint Scratch Race
* Raymond Robinson — 5th place
Men's 4.000m Team Pursuit
* Alfred Swift, George Estman, Robert Fowler, and Thomas Shardelow
   * Final — Lost to Italy (→ Silver Medal)

## Diving

One male diver represented South Africa in 1952.
Men's 3m Springboard
* Willem Welgemoed
   * Preliminary Round — 61.64 points (→ 22nd place)

## Gymnastics

South Africa was represented in gymnastics by three men in 7 out of 8 events, not having enough competitors to take part in the team all-around.
* Individual all-around - Ronnie Lombard (139th place); Jack Wells (169th place); Rolf Yelseth (171st place)
* Floor exercise - Ronnie Lombard (=164th place); Jack Wells (=166th place); Rolf Yelseth (177th place)
* Horizontal bar - Ronnie Lombard (=98th place); Rolf Yelseth (141st place); Jack Wells (166th place)
* Parallel bars - Rolf Yelseth (161st place); Ronnie Lombard (163rd place); Jack Wells (=173rd place)
* Pommel horse - Ronnie Lombard (=129th place); Rolf Yelseth (=162nd place)
* Rings - Rolf Yelseth (=127th place); Jack Wells (147th place); Ronnie Lombard (=163rd place)
* Vault - Jack Wells (=79th place); Ronnie Lombard (=98th place); Rolf Yelseth (174th place)

## Modern pentathlon

One male pentathlete represented South Africa in 1952.
* Harry Schmidt

## Rowing

South Africa had five male rowers participating in two out of seven rowing events in 1952.

### Men's single sculls

* Ian Stephen

### Men's coxless four

* Don Dyke-Wells
* Damian Nichol
* John Webb
* Christopher Veitch

## Sailing

South Africa entered two of the five sailing classes with four men.
* One Person Dinghy - Hellmut Stauch (16th place)
* 5.5 metres (Shoveller) (7th place)
    Eric Beningfield, Joe Ellis-Brown, Noel Horsfield

## Shooting

One male shooter represented South Africa in 1952.

### 50 m rifle, prone

* William Murless

## Swimming

South Africa was represented in 8 of the 11 swimming events by five men and one woman.
Men's 100 metre freestyle
    John Durr (21); Dennis Ford (36)
Men's 400 metre freestyle
    Peter Duncan (4); Graham Johnston (10); Dennis Ford (17)
Men's 1500 metres freestyle
    Peter Duncan (7); Graham Johnston (17); Dennis Ford (18)
Men's 4 × 200 metres freestyle relay
    Graham Johnston; Dennis Ford; John Durr; Peter Duncan; South Africa - 7th
Men's 100 metre backstroke
    Lin Meiring (8)
Women's 100 metre freestyle
    Joan Harrison (4)
Women's 400 metre freestyle
    Joan Harrison (9)
Women's 100 metre backstroke
    Joan Harrison (1) (→ Gold Medal)

## Water polo

The South African men's water polo team finished in 9th place.
* William Aucamp, Ron Meredith, Gerald Goddard, Douglas Melville, Johnnie van Gent, Des Cohen, Solly Yach, Dennis Pappas; Frank Butler, Luis González (did not compete)

## Weightlifting

South Africa was represented in weightlifting by four men.
* Featherweight - James van Rensburg (18th place)
* Lightweight - Barrie Engelbrecht (13th place)
* Light-heavyweight - Issy Bloomberg (6th place)
* Middle-heavyweight - Theunis Jonck (8th place)

## Wrestling

South Africa was represented by 5 male wrestlers.
Men's freestyle
* Flyweight - Louis Baise (6th place)
* Lightweight - Blondie Pienaar (place not known)
* Welterweight - Cyril Martin (place not known)
* Middleweight - Calie Reitz (=6th place)
* Light-Heavyweight - Jan Theron (6th place)